After a record-setting 2015, Steve Forssell and Rodd Sayler are setting their sights on a new goal.
They want to catch the biggest bass of the 2016 King of the Glades Open Team Series (kotgseries.com), which begins Jan. 10 on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee.
This past spring, the longtime fishing partners became the first to win the regular season points title and the season-ending Classic in the same year.
They also were the first team to win two King of the Glades points titles, as well as the first to win a KOG points title without winning any of the five qualifier tournaments.
In addition, Forssell and Sayler were the first team to win the Classic twice in the nine-year history of the series.
Although they've caught plenty of big bass, they've never had one hold up as the biggest of the King of the Glades season
"So we've got to get the one we don't have," Forssell said. "It's the only title that's eluded us."
One reason why Forssell and Sayler are so successful is they do the hard work that it takes to catch quality bass.
Instead of them both throwing the same lure, they each use something different.
Typically, Sayler would throw a Zara Spook all day long and walk it on the edge of the vegetation in an Everglades canal or over holes in the grass on Lake Okeechobee.
Making all those long casts and having the topwater plug zig-zag all the way back to the boat is physically demanding. Most anglers would put down the Spook rod after a while, but not Sayler. Often he'd catch only a couple of fish, but both would be big enough to bring to the scales at the weigh-in.
Meanwhile, Forssell would cast a frog into the vegetation, then later pitch a heavy jig into the thick stuff and pull out a handful of big bass.
Notice that the duo doesn't fish for numbers and hope that there will be enough decent bass among all the 1- and 2-pounders for a nice limit. If they can get 10 good bites a day, they feel pretty good about their chances of doing well.
In the Classic, which was held in June in the canals along Alligator Alley, Forssell, of Coconut Creek, Fla., and Sayler, of Oakland Park, Fla., caught five bass weighing a total of 30.54 pounds to win by more than 5 pounds. Forssell had the biggest bass of the Classic at 7.88 pounds.
For 2016 they believe they'll need a bass approaching 10 pounds to have a shot at the big fish title, which awards the winning angler a Power-Pole shallow water anchor. They led the standings early last year with an 8-pounder at Everglades Holiday Park, but that fish was surpassed by a 9.21-pounder.
"We're taking a different approach this year," Forssell said during a recent outing. "We've been practicing with frogs and Gambler Big EZ swimbaits."
The Big EZ has a reputation for catching big bass. Forssell said he and Sayler plan to swim the lure on and just under the surface around holes in the grass and also drag it on the bottom.
"We fish it with a half-ounce brass weight to help get it through the weeds, plus we can make longer casts," Sayler said. "We'll throw it in the weeds, pull it over and let it sink in a hole sometimes or we'll just pull it across a hole. The key is not to have it land in the hole," which would spook any fish that are in the hole.
Forssell is also changing his jig pitching and flipping tactics, going to a much heavier jig and heavier line.
He said he’ll be using jigs of 11/2 to 2 ounces — he was using 3/4- to 11/4-ounce jigs — with 70-pound braided line this coming season. He’ll fish them on an Abu Garcia Revo Rocket baitcasting reel with a 9:1 retrieve and a 7-foot, 10-inch Fitzgerald Titan HD Flipping/Pitching rod.
The heavy jigs punch through thick vegetation and the high-speed reel, sturdy rod and heavy line will help Forssell get big bass up and out of that vegetation quickly.
After all, you can't weigh big bass if you can't get them into your boat.
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